Summary / Response Essay
A summary-response essay, sometimes called a “response” or “reaction” paper, is a piece of writing in which you first summarize a particular reading selection and then take your personal experiences, ideas, and opinions and compare them to the ideas in a particular reading selection. This writing skill is often used in classes across the curriculum, from psychology to philosophy, from microbiology to literature; it is also seen in the work world—e.g. “summary-recommendation reports.”
Three related purposes are involved in writing a summary-response essay: (1) to demonstrate your understanding of the reading selection; (2) to express your informed opinions about the subject matter; and (3) to extend your understanding of a reading selection by allowing you to demonstrate its relationship and relevance to your life.
As you write your summary-response essay, you will draw on your own experience, knowledge, and observations, in addition to your chosen reading selection. Your personal knowledge includes not only things you have experienced directly but also things that you have read in books or magazines, viewed on film or television, listened to on radio or audio recording, or discovered in conversations with others. Library research, Internet research, and site visits are not required for this essay.
As you think about your chosen text and relevant personal ideas and experiences, you can choose from one of three “basic” approaches: (1) how does your experience agree with the ideas in the reading selection? (2) How does your experience contradict the ideas in the reading selection? (3) How do the ideas in the reading selection help you “make sense of” or explain your experience? Of course, there are many other approaches, one of which is to “extend” the ideas found in the reading selection; another is to “add” new ideas of your own to those in the reading selection.
With all this background information in mind, write a summary-response essay in reaction to one chapter (not the introduction) from the book How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds by Alan Jacobs.
Think about your “summary” section being about one-fifth (1/5) of your essay, probably only a paragraph or two. Thus, your “response” section will probably be about four-fifths (4/5) of your essay. Having said that, you may intermingle paraphrasing specific ideas from the text with your response in the body paragraphs of your essay. As you plan and write your essay, consider your audience to be the other college readers and writers in this class. Like you, they have “read” the text, but they might have focused on different things and may not completely remember the details related to your focus. Thus, summary (and/or quotation) may be needed to clarify Jacobs’ words and ideas (but try to summarize or paraphrase before you decide to quote). Of course, you will want to make your own ideas as clear as possible since your readers won’t know what is going on inside your head.
Review this video: How to write a response paper for a clear explanation of one way to structure this type of essay.
Reminders:
A general rule of thumb to follow is that your essay should be approximately 20% summary and 80% of your own ideas.
Even though you will summarize all of the main ideas of the chapter you have chosen, you do not have to respond to each of these ideas in the essay. Brainstorm any and all ideas first, then pick the ones that will present the strongest essay.
You will need a thesis of your own in your introduction.
Remember to consider this essay to be more “academic” — i.e. you are writing primarily for your fellow writers in class and your professor.
Formatting Requirements:
Your essay should be at least 900 words but no longer than 1400 words. It should follow MLA style formatting guidelines. It should be double-spaced and word-processed — with 1.0-1.25” margins, and a 12-point “normal” font (Times New Roman). No title page is needed; put your name, the course, my name, the date, and the assignment name in the upper left-hand corner of the first page.